As awesome as it is the innovations of Game Pass/PS Collection has kinda hampered my gaming. I play a bunch of stuff in 30 min-hour chunks and it feels like I’ll never finish anything lol.

Stay far away from Yakuza games lol

If you’re a completionist, I’m sure 200 hours could be put into each one of gnoses games. I had about 150 in Yakuza 0, including while paused, so maybe more like 125, but I only had 59% completed.

Got a PS5 on launch day and just sold/scalped it (net about $250). Loved everything about the unit but the launch titles, will definitely be back in line to get another one whenever that is.

Guess I’m an awful person now but definitely feels like giving up a lot, and not hurting for cash or anything. I was still kind of on the fence after listing but it sold in 11 minutes. Figured the PC can hold me over and I have other indoor hobbies. Maybe I can snag another one by New Years.

Cyberpunk on PC will do, I have a 2070 and a 9900k in that

Load times are fantastic, and the unit is really quiet. Without the base I was lucky to fit in my existing entertainment center.

Also, this delay will give me some time to build a new entertainment center. Going to add a couple 200mm fans I can flip on maybe.

Purchase advice needed.

I am considering buying Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, both for PS4.
-Why I’m considering it: I love the themes/settings of these games (I am a massive Greek Mythology geek. That’s weird, I know).
-Why I am doubtful: I mostly play old-school RPG and strategy games. I really don’t like like videogames that put an emphasis on open world mechanics (exceptions: Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher 3, BOTW). I kind of hated Dragon Age: Inquisition for that reason. I am also not a fan of Souls-like games (or games that test your reflexes more than anything) and I haven’t bothered with the Assassin’s Creed franchise since Revelations.

So... should I bite the bullet (just shy of 70 euros) for these games bc of the theme or am I going to hate actual gameplay that much?

I’ve never played an Assassins Creed, but I’ve heard the latest is a bad open world, though perhaps not a bad game.

Ghost of Tsushima, on the other hand, is elite!! Style for days and tons to do. With the online portion they just added, it’s well worth the money!

Would go with Tsushima over AC:O in your case. The world does a much better job of leaving the world still open to explore but gently guiding you in the right direction without being heavy-handed about it.

Tsushima also does a better job of immersing you in the culture of the time period i is set in. GrANTED, this may be due to how much more familiar I am with greek mythology than Japanese, but I REALLY loved learning the japanese mythology as opposed to being like " oh ok, so now we get to this greek myth"

If it's a package deal and u have to buy both, they are both quality games, but given your preferences, you will get much more enjoyment from Tsushima. However if What I've said about AC:O has made you skeptical at all look for Tsushima on sale for cheaper than the bundle.

GoT is $40 until Dec 1st on the store.

I played a **** ton of ACO and loved it but I bought GoT and Vahalla at the same time like a week ago and have played 4 hours of Vahalla and ~30 of GoT if that says anything.

GoT is my favorite game I’ve played in a long, long time (not really counting DeS remake since it’s a remake). Not saying ACO or Vahalla is bad by any means.

Not a package deal, 50 euros for Tsushima in the PS Store (I am an Euro) and 20 for Odyssey. Thanks for the comments.

If you enjoyed Witcher 3 I don’t see how you can go wrong with Ghost of Tsushima. They’re similar except I think GoT has a better setting. 13th century Japan is gorgeous and perfect for gaming.

Any Demon's Souls fans here?

As I started the game without understanding any of this "world tendency" ****, I believe I've ****ed myself in world 2 by killing the first two bosses and then dying in human form at some point after each one, being unaware that the proper way to play this game is, of course (it's so obvious!), to kill yourself after each boss in the Nexus to avoid ever dying in body form in the archstone worlds.

So I think this means my world tendency is probably somewhere around...+30? And I can't kill the final demon here without pure white tendency, which is basically impossible to get at this point without winning PvPs or something, yeah?

If you’re talking about accessing 1-3, you can’t yet. You’ll need to beat the all the other archstones before that. If you need help running through areas/bosses you can hmu and I’ll coop it with you whenever.

I'm an idiot - I'm talking 2-3, and some combination of things I read led me to believe you can't kill the 2-3 boss w/o having pure white tendency, but reading again shows me I made that up. Nevermind.

This game is sweet though, never played the original and having a blast with this, feels like a brand new Souls game.

I bought it and am playing it right now. It’s a very enjoyable game, except the people that did not implement the autolock feature are bad and should feel bad.

On other topics: I read some glowing reviews for Immortal: Fenyx Rising, but the characters’ faces are amazingly ugly and the colour palette reminds me of Candy Crush Saga. Ugh.

ACV v GOT

I've played both on PS4. GOT is the better game. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but some of the textures in ACV (especially rocks) look like they came straight out of Skyrim.

GOT is easily one of the top 3 best looking games that I've played.

Funny, I just put about 100 hours into AC Odyssey and then moved on to GoT, only 5-10 hours in but I'm loving it. I'm a big fan of the whole AC series but if you don't generally like those kind of games I think GoT is the better choice

Two month bump to say you are spot on on Blasphemous. I'm 75% of the way through the map and am loving this game. It definitely has 2D Dark Souls elements in gameplay (bonfires, respawning, parry/dodge) as well as lore/ambiance. I think it's significantly easier (a lot of which might be 2D vs 3D) - I don't at all feel like I'm constantly having to learn patterns/weaknesses through trial and error - I think the only places I've died multiple times have been to a couple annoying platforming sequences. I've probably died 2 or 3 times to each boss but it's not nearly as challenging as learning a new DS boss.

All that said though it's a super fun and satisfying metroidvania, and I can't wait to explore to try and get 100% of the map and figure out the secret rooms/hidden areas etc. I liked Timespinners as I said but didn't even consider a NG+ - with Blasphemous I can't wait to start a second playthrough.

LOL I knew I bought Witcher 3 cause it's on my homescreen but I completely forgot I bought MGS5 two months ago. I will never ever ever get through my backlog.

OK upon completion they do introduce a more forward LGBT storyline in the back half of the game (see spoiler), but reviewers are still way too butthurt about it.

But what of the children!

Has anyone tried pairing a PS4 DualShock controller to their iPhone?

I am playing Call of Duty: Mobile, and have been using a PS4 Controller with some luck, but it's very frustrating. The controller will suddenly stop working, generally after every match or every other match. And occasionally during a match, if it's a longer one like a battle royale. The controls just stop working, but the controller doesn't disconnect.

I am able to fix this each time by change to the settings app, manually disconnecting the DualShock controller throught the bluetooth menu, then swapping back to CoD, pressing the PS button, the controller pairs again, and you're good until the next time it stops working. While this does kind of work, I would like to see Sony and Apple come up a better implementation.

Don't even get me started on the new XBox controller that I bought when I saw on the box that it said iOS. It does not. They say they have plans to support it in the future, but that's been their stance since at least November. I would have returned it claiming false advertising, but I figured I would give it a shot with Witcher 3 on PC. The new XBox controller does work well with PC over USB and Bluetooth. I haven't been able to test on other platforms for which it claims compatibility.

Overall, playing with a controller is really fun. However, the current drawbacks (at least with the DualShock 4 and XBox "Series" series controller range from dropping connection consistently to not working at all.

Has anyone else encountered what I'm describing? If so, were you able to figure out what was causing the problems? Because I honestly have no idea. Sometimes use my finger to touch the screen and check the score and that's what kills the controller, sometimes it's a champ an stays connected for 5 games in a row.

My first session after I made that post, the controller worked like a champ for 45 minutes straight.

Late to the party, but started playing Hollow Knight since it was a free PS+ download in November. 40 hours in and absolutely loving it. Can't believe this was free to download.

I literally just bought Hollow Knight yesterday for $15 after hearing it get raved about. So congrats on crushing me value wise I really want to start playing it (I love Metroidvania genre), but I'm really digging Batman Arkham Knight which I started a week ago, going to finish that first.

Regarding Arkham Knight, I bought it years ago but got turned off by the Batmobile controls right at the beginning of the game, then read a bunch of reviews where people said the batmobile was awful and a major pain, so I switched to a different game. Finally playing it now, while I still don't love the Batmobile, and it is forced on you every couple hours for a 10 minute stretch, it isn't really THAT bad, and the rest of the game is top notch, particularly the story/storytelling. Very glad I went back to it.

Imo the first Batman game was great. I didn't care as much for the other 2.

Interesting, I loved the first two, and am actually finding myself thinking the third may be the best of all, if only by a hair.

1st: Obv huge points for inventing the game style, free flow combat, predator rooms. Incredible story telling. Game plays more like super metroid where you're walking back and forth between zones than GTA where you can go wherever you want, which isn't bad or good just gives a different flavor. To my taste it got kind of annoyingly difficult to walk around towards the end of the game as security got tighter and tighter. Other than Killer Croc, the boss battles were the weak point of the game - great characters stories, boring gameplay.

2nd: Open world gameplay, making it easy to integrate side missions and switch between them and main story quickly. Really great story with sense of impending doom growing throughout the game. Much better boss battles, including Mr. Freeze which is a Boss Battle Hall of Famer, incredibly conceptualized and executed. Incorporates more gadgets into combat with quickfire buttons, making brawling combat more enjoyable.

3rd: Very much an evolution from #2. Biggest gameplay change is definitely the batmobile, which as stated is a net negative unfortunately. So far though I give this game the edge just because the story is so great: Scarecrow is a little better than Hugo Strange in similar roles, and the story gimmick with [redacted] appearing throughout is really, really well executed. It also just feels a tad more polished and even easier to switch between side missions, challenges, and main story. Bosses so far are lacking (definitely way below #2), but I'm only 1/2 way through so hoping that improves.

Destruction All Stars is a blast.